Taking Sides

Rubicon Theatre launches the company’s 20th Anniversary Season with Taking Sides, a provocative and gripping drama based on the true story of German conductor and composer (and accused Nazi sympathizer) Wilhelm Furtwängler. Written by Academy Award-winner SIR RONALD HARWOOD (“The Pianist”) and directed by Ovation Award-winner STEPHANIE COLTRIN, the play explores the terrible collision between art, power, politics and personal responsibility. Harwood’s dramatization of the investigation into Furtwängler (PETER VAN NORDEN) is set in 1946 in the American Zone of occupied Berlin. Major Steve Arnold (PATRICK VEST) interrogates Furtwängler following the war in preparation for his de-Nazification tribunal. Why did Furtwängler remain in Germany while many of his colleagues fled out of protest or because of persecution. Did he naively believe that art was above politics? Did he allow himself to be manipulated by the Nazi propaganda machine? Or was he, in fact, a collaborator?

TAKING SIDES opens at 7 p.m. on Saturday, October 28, 2017 at Rubicon Theatre, 1006 E. Main Street in Ventura’s Downtown Cultural District. The opening night is followed by a party with the cast and local dignitaries at Rhumb Line Restaurant in the Harbor. Low-priced previews are Wednesday, Oct. 25, at 7 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 26 at 8 p.m. and Friday, Oct. 27 at 8 p.m. The production continues Wednesdays through Sundays through November 12, 2017. For tickets, go to www.rubicontheatre.org or call 805.667.2900.